At those words, Min Ming clenched her fists.
But her disposition allowed her only to lower her head and remain silent.
Min Ning went to meet her older sister, her hand involuntarily loosening its grip on her saber hilt.
[Negative emotion: 30]
Seeing her negative emotion plummet, Chen Yi was very pleased.
It seemed her opinion of him had improved.
That was just what he wanted.
The more her opinion improved now, the more she would hate him later. The deeper the trust, the stronger the hatred would be.
However, Chen Yi would not do anything harmful for that purpose.
If this were still just a game, just collections of data, it would not have mattered if he maximized his gains at the start. But this was no longer a game-or rather, the game had become reality. Chen Yi had a line he would never cross.
Hurting someone just to make them hate him.
How crude.
Was I that crude a person?
I had a more sophisticated way.
Min Ning looked at her sister with concern. Taller than Min Ming, she held her older sister by the shoulders. At a glance, they looked like a handsome brother and his beautiful sister.
After confirming Min Ming was unharmed, Min Ning finally began to believe Chen Yi, but she was still puzzled.
But... why was my sister's face ashen and full of hatred?
Could it be... something more horrifying than having her virginity taken?
[Negative emotion: 35]
Hatred surged within Min Ning, and she said:
"Hundred Household Chen, if you dare harm a colleague's relative, the law prescribes forty strokes and dismissal from office."
Chen Yi frowned.
"I really didn't do anything to her."
Min Ning snorted.
"I will investigate it myself."
Then, as though something had occurred to her, she opened her mouth, only to hesitate.
Chen Yi said bluntly:
"If you have something to say, say it."
Conflict passed across Min Ning's face before she calmed down and ordered:
"Prince Xiang colluded with the Demonic Cult. Although the ringleader has been captured, remnants of the Demonic Cult are still active in the Capital City. I now order you to gather your men and join me in suppressing these villains..."
Min Ning regretted saying it, but she had no choice. Ostracized at every turn in both the Eastern and Western Depots, she had only Chen Yi left to turn to. She had even prepared herself for a cold reception.
Yet she saw Chen Yi nod slightly and say:
"We can't go easy on remnants of the Demonic Cult."
Min Ning was puzzled, but she seized the opportunity and hurriedly commanded:
"Exactly. A band of Demonic Cult remnants has gathered at the South Bank Ferry. I order you to take your men there at once and arrest them."
Chen Yi caught something amiss in those words.
"Wait, weren't you assigned to supervise the Eastern Depot? That makes you practically one of them. Why are you asking the Western Depot to do the work? Where's the Eastern Depot?"
Min Ning was momentarily at a loss for words, then said with some difficulty:
"Rumor has it that Eastern Depot Director Xue Youge has secret ties to the Xiang Prince's Residence..."
Realizing that she sounded weak, she changed her expression and added coldly:
"Hundred Household, don't try to refuse. If I, your Thousand Household, submit a report against you, you'll be in for it."
As she finished, she held up two fingers, meaning "at least twenty strokes."
Listening to her threat, Chen Yi narrowed his eyes.
"One rank higher really does let you crush a man."
Min Ning watched him anxiously at that. If he refused, going there alone would only mean throwing her life away.
For this operation, she had even brought all the salary left over after a year's expenses-a full twenty taels of silver.
"Let me wash my face."
Chen Yi adjusted the Embroidered Spring Saber at his waist, turned around, and scooped water from the vat.
Though she knew he was keeping her in suspense, Min Ning still pricked up her ears.
"Done. Let's go."
"What the Eastern Depot doesn't dare handle, the Western Depot will."
[Negative emotion: 15]
When they arrived inside the Western Depot, several chief constables and Eastern Depot Agents hurried over and saluted with cupped hands.
"Gather a few of the men. We're going to the South Bank Ferry."
Chen Yi spoke without hesitation.
The chief constables exchanged glances at his words. One of them, surnamed Zeng, looked troubled.
"That... might not be a good idea."
Chief Constable Zeng said.
"How so?"
Chen Yi asked.
"You're a busy man, sir, so it must have slipped your mind. Didn't we accept a tiny bit of drinking money from Elder Li ten-odd days ago?"
Chief Constable Zeng held out two fingers and rubbed them together, gesturing just how tiny a bit it had been.
Right. A tiny fortune.
Chen Yi remembered at once.
Right-at the start, to maximize his gains, he had taken his men to extort the Demonic Cult!
A full thousand taels of silver. He had pocketed half himself and divided the rest among the others.
Watching Chief Constable Zeng's gesture, Min Ning frowned repeatedly, a flash of indignation passing through her phoenix eyes.
[Negative emotion: 25]
Chen Yi coughed twice.
"A little drinking money? How could that be enough for the men?"
With that, he patted Chief Constable Zeng on the shoulder.
The man asked tentatively:
"You mean..."
Chen Yi said plainly:
"We'll squeeze them again. They need to pay more."
The Western Depot chief constables' eyes lit up, but they still hesitated.
After all, they had only extorted them ten-odd days ago...
"Miss this chance, and you won't get another."
Chen Yi reminded them.
The chief constables turned toward him, chiming in:
"How dare these petty villains break the law right under the emperor's nose?"
"I've long intended to punish evildoers. Your words today have been a wake-up call, Hundred Household."
"Chief Constable Zeng, I've had a sudden awakening too. I'm ready to become a saint on the spot."
The men roared with laughter.
Min Ning's gaze remained uneasy. Straightforward by nature, she could not work out their intentions.
Chen Yi hooked an arm around her shoulders and pulled her aside.
"W-what are you doing? Have you no respect for your superior?"
Pulled over so suddenly, Min Ning glared at him.
Chen Yi leaned close to her ear and lowered his voice:
"I'm a man of honor. How could I stoop to their level?
"This is called making a show of one thing while secretly doing another. We're concealing our true purpose to catch them off guard."
Min Ning understood at once.
People liked compromises. If they told the Western Depot men outright that they were going to kill Demonic Cult members, these old hands would surely refuse. But if it was a matter of squeezing the Demonic Cult again, they would certainly agree.
Ingenious...
Min Ning could not help feeling a little admiration.
[Negative emotion: 18]
Suddenly, something brushed past her ear, and Min Ning jolted as though shocked.
She shoved Chen Yi away, but he wore an innocent expression.
Min Ning touched her earlobe. It was burning hot, and ripples disturbed the calm of her heart.
[Negative emotion: 23]
After making their preparations, several Western Depot chief constables mounted their warhorses, while a dozen or so Eastern Depot Agents followed on foot, heading out through the Western Depot's gates.
Chen Yi rode a tall horse at the front, with Min Ning riding close beside him.
Passing the City God Temple, Chen Yi saw a lively crowd amid the clang of gongs and beating of drums. Quite a few people in Daoist robes walked along the street.
Judging by the timing, the Capital City's first major event was approaching.
It was also the first dungeon in Beyond the Heavens-the Suppress Bandits and Exorcise Demons Blessing Ritual.
Two great orthodox sects would establish ritual grounds to suppress bandits and exorcise demons in Great Yu's Capital City.
As the first major event, its rewards were exceptionally generous. He remembered his first save: even though he had understood nothing, chosen the wrong options several times, and died several times, forcing him to reload earlier saves, his final rewards had still exceeded expectations.
One was the Shangqing Dao's Shangqing Heart Method. Practicing it calmed the mind and sharpened the senses... put simply, it was bullet time.
Just imagine having bullet time in a one-on-one fight, able to see every move an opponent made, while appearing as swift as lightning in their eyes...
After all, among all martial arts, only speed was unbeatable.
Apart from Martial Dao Grandmasters, who could overcome technique through sheer strength, the more skilled the fighter, the more the speed of their moves mattered.
"Is the ritual still five days away?"
Chen Yi asked.
This time, I was going to get a perfect clear.
"Another fifteen or sixteen days, and Yinjian Mountain and the Shangqing Dao will arrive together."
Min Ning answered beside him. Chen Yi's cooperation today had put her in a good mood, and she continued:
"In the martial world, the Top Ten of the Martial Ranking are all legendary figures. Leaving aside the heaven-reaching abilities of the 'Three Celestials,' even the bottom three are masters capable of founding their own schools. And this time, Yinjian Mountain is sending the foremost swordswoman, Sword Armor Zhou Yitang."
Hearing the name Zhou Yitang, Chen Yi felt a faint melancholy.
Min Ning did not notice.
"She reached ninth place on the Martial Ranking at just twenty-six. Even though Yinjian Mountain has always cultivated both Daoist and martial arts, it had never produced anyone so astonishingly gifted. It's hard to imagine who in the martial world could rival her ten years from now.
"They say that when she received her cap and sword at twenty, her grandmaster gave her these words: 'With the profound mysteries within your sword, you may cleave through eight hundred winds of the mortal world.'"
As Chen Yi listened to Min Ning, his thoughts drifted.
Zhou Yitang, courtesy name Zhuyu, the Yinjian Mountain Sword Armor.
He had resolved not to hurt Yin Tingxue precisely because he had hurt her before.
That had been his first save-or perhaps... his previous life?
Forget it. No point dwelling on it. When I met her again, I would treat her well. She couldn't possibly remember any of it anyway.
"Didn't you ask me about Yinjian Mountain a few days ago?"
Min Ning turned and interrupted Chen Yi's thoughts, chuckling.
"Come to think of it, were you hoping to join Yinjian Mountain? They only accept female disciples."
Chen Yi shook his head.
"Give up a killing saber to learn a life-saving sword? I have no such plans-unless the Sword Armor takes a liking to me."
Min Ning snorted and said disdainfully:
"If the Sword Armor took a liking to you, could you handle the good fortune of all hundred-odd female disciples on Yinjian Mountain?"
Chen Yi replied offhandedly:
"For her, I'd gladly pine away."
Min Ning had nothing but disdain for such glib talk.
Chen Yi did not care about his superior's indifference either.
At some point, a hand whose owner's sex was hard to distinguish reached over.
A banknote lay on it.
Seeing the hand, Chen Yi turned.
"What's this for?"
Min Ning stammered a little:
"In gratitude... for your help. Consider it... a little consideration from your superior."
As she held it out, she made an effort not to let her gaze drop.
This was all the salary she had left after a year's expenses. An Embroidered Uniform Guard who neither took bribes nor embezzled received only thirty taels of silver, even with every allowance included.
"Take it back."
"Just take... huh?"
Min Ning looked at Chen Yi in surprise.
"I said, take it back."
Chen Yi said with a mocking expression:
"Thousand Household Min, do you think you're the only one with a warm heart and a sense of duty?"
At those words, Min Ning's gaze showed astonishment, then immediately grew complicated. Beneath the surface, there was even a trace of guilt.
She kept muttering to herself...
Has he gone mad from cultivation? Why has his temperament changed so drastically?
Or could it be...
Was I wrong about him?
Was he hiding his abilities behind a show of ineptitude before?
[Negative emotions: 15]
Before you continue